What to watch during the final weekend of the 2024 presidential campaign

NEW YORK (AP) — The 2024 presidential contest enters its final weekend with Democrats Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump embroiled in a razor-thin contest.

At this late stage of the campaign, every day is important. And while few voters can change their minds this late in a typical election, there is a sense that what happens in these final days could shift the vote.

Harris and Trump are crisscrossing the country to rally voters in the states that matter most. They try – with varying degrees of success – to stay focused on a clear and concise final message. At the same time, both parties are investing enormous resources to increase turnout for the latest early voting period. And in these critical days, the flow of disinformation is intensifying.

Here’s what we’re watching on the last weekend before Election Day, Tuesday:

You only have to look at the candidate lists this weekend to know where these elections will likely be decided.

Please note that schedules can and likely will change without notice. But on Saturday, Trump started with an appearance in North Carolina, followed by a stop in Virginia, and planned to return to the Tar Heel State in the evening.

Since then, no Democratic presidential candidate has carried North Carolina Barack Obama in 2008, although every election since has been decided by less than 3 points. Trump’s decision to spend Saturday there suggests Harris has a real chance in the state. But Trump is also trying to convey confidence by stopping in Virginia, a state that has been safely in the Democratic column since 2008.

There may be no more important swing state than Pennsylvania, where Trump is expected to campaign on Sunday. But in addition to Georgia, he also has an appearance planned in North Carolina, another Southern state that has leaned Republican for nearly three decades—that is, until Joe Biden fell by less than half a percentage point four years ago.

Harris campaigned in Atlanta on Saturday ahead of a rally in the North Carolina capital — a sign that her team senses real opportunity in the South. She plans to make several stops in Michigan on Sunday, switching to a Democratic-leaning “blue wall” state where her allies believe she is vulnerable.

Trump’s campaign wants voters to focus on one key question as they prepare to cast their ballots, and it’s the same question he opens every rally with: Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

Harris’ team wants voters to think about something else: Do they trust Trump or Harris to put the country’s interests above their own?

Whichever candidate can more effectively keep voters focused on their closing arguments in the coming days could ultimately win the presidency. Yet both candidates have had a challenging start.

Trump still opens the weekend with the fallout from his recent one Rally in New York City in which a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating pile of trash.” Things got tougher for Trump on Thursday after he raised the prospect of Republican rival Liz Cheney death by gunfire.

It was exactly the kind of inflammatory commentary his allies want him to avoid at this critical moment.

Harris’ campaign, meanwhile, is still trying to shift the conversation away from President Biden’s comments earlier this week who described Trump supporters as “trash.” The Associated Press reported late Thursday that White House press officials had changed the official transcript of the call in question, drawing objections from the federal employees who document such comments for posterity.

The spotlight of presidential politics always burns brightly. But perhaps it will burn brightest this final weekend, leaving the campaigns with virtually no room for error. In what both sides believe is a real tossup election, any missteps in the final hours could be decisive.

Trump’s explicit attack on Cheney was especially troublesome given his allies’ heightened concerns about female voters.

Polls show a significant gender gap in the contest, with Harris generally receiving a much better rating among women than Trump. Some of that may be the result of the Republican Party’s struggle to restrict abortion rights, which has been disastrous for Trump’s party. But Trump’s divisive leadership has also pushed women away.

Early in the weekend, Trump allies, including conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, warned that many more women than men are casting their ballots early. While it’s impossible to know who they’re voting for, Kirk clearly believes this is bad news for Trump.

Trump isn’t helping his cause. A day before his violent rhetoric about Cheney, the former president made waves by insisting he would protect women whether they “like it or not.”